The Implementation Era: building beyond the big bills with Zach Kolodin

Between 2021 and 2024, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act approved nearly $2 trillion in public investments. These investments were allocated to repair aging infrastructure, advance clean energy, and build toward a more connected, resilient future. But funding alone doesn’t build projects. In this episode, host Kate Gasparro sits down with Zachary Kolodin, Michigan’s former Chief Infrastructure Officer, who built and led one of the nation’s first infrastructure offices during a period of extraordinary federal investment. Earlier this year, Zach started Pont Advisory and Pont Law to advise both public and private sector leaders on how to effectively execute upon that investment—navigating rising costs, regulatory hurdles, and shifting political priorities.This is the first in a two-part series with former public leaders who helped turn federal ambition into local impact—and who now find themselves navigating a different kind of challenge: delivering lasting results when the dollars slow, but the need hasn’t.Resources:Infrastructure Costs (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics)Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Invests $13B in Michgan Projects (MI Governor's Office)Executing on the $2T investment to boost American Competitiveness (Deloitte)Chips manufacturing plants underway in Arizona (Axios)New Hampshire's regulatory transparency gets a facelift (The Regulatory Review)Notes:Since recording, the US Supreme Court has limited NEPA's reach by clarying that agencies will only assess environmental impacts under their direct control—not the broader chain reaction of related projects. Read more here.Send us Fan MailThanks for listening to Building Better Cities! If you'd like to stay connected, don't forget to Subscribe and Follow. You can find all our archived newsletters and podcasts right here. Want to get in touch? Just email the team at [email protected].